But a number of content creators have been vocal about seeing their revenue drop by the removal of advertisements. Because yes, while your video may have been okayed by YouTube before, new rules do allow them to go back, review your content, and determine if it can be monitized. Gamers such as TotalBiscuit have been trying to figure out the loophole to ensure their content can maintain advertising. They have been utilizing their fanbase to upload videos of atypical game violence, but change out thumbnails, tags, and titles to see if the algorithms will overlook it.
Here are the guidelines for advertising and violence on YouTube:
“Violence: Video content where the focal point is on blood, violence, or injury, when presented without additional context, is not eligible for advertising. Violence in the normal course of video gameplay is generally acceptable for advertising, but montages where gratuitous violence is the focal point is not. If you're showing violent content in a news, educational, artistic, or documentary context, that additional context is important.”
The focus is curtailing real world violence from earning ad revenue. It is acceptable for video games given the market and that it's fake/artistic - but montages are not allowed. So why is YouTube's system still flagging these videos and channels? It could be the algorithms need more information to safely determine what is reality and what is a video game. It could be YouTube's way of trying to get channels to pay for their 'Google Preferred' service; a sort of white-list that ensures some of your content will be ad approved.
The thing is we shouldn't be jumping through hoops to showcase our creative content. People play for fun and play for a paycheck. When a system is actively pushing back against you to hit your bottom line (aka prevents you from paying your bills), you start looking around for alternatives. This is why we're seeing the rise of Twitch and UStream - sites that are now offering content storage and video uploads as an alternative to YouTube. And for less restrictions! Sure there is nudity clauses but beyond that, most streaming services are pretty open for creative license.
What's to stop the video game YouTube population from transferring over to another video service? If TotalBiscuit were to quit right now and head to Twitch, he'd be taking not only himself and his creative work, but his entire fanbase too. That's loss ad revenue for YouTube, and another notch in the belt for Twitch.
YouTube. Time to wake up and see that your policies are hurting your core audience. Last year, video games were the 4th most watched type of video on the platform (behind vlogs, how-to's, and product reviews.) Gaming and cat videos helped create YouTube. Are you willing to turn your back on them for policies that hurt your revenue?
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